A THREE-foot wide pothole that caused a car tyre to explode on impact is just one of a cluster of massive cavities making driving conditions treacherous.

The huge crater on Waterloo Street, at the junction with Wellington Street, exposed the metal edge of a manhole cover and measured around 10 inches deep.

Torrential rain and storms which battered the city over the festive season are being blamed for this crumbling road and others like it.

Deep puddles and heavy deluges are said to have churned up road surfaces causing dangerous craters, uneven driving surfaces and leaving loose rubble strewn across roads and pavements.

On Cathedral Street, at the junction with North Hanover Street, two deep holes exposed cables running below the surface.

Another crumbling road causing misery for drivers is Baird Street, where a crater has formed on the edge of the road, near the junction with Castle Street.

The hole has created a large puddle which - when driven through - sends a wave of dirty water, loose stones and gravel cascading on to the pavement, also hitting any pedestrians unfortunate enough to be walking past at the time.

The tyre-bursting pot hole in the middle of Waterloo Street, on the pathway for drivers turning right on the road from Wellington Street, forced some to swerve to avoid it.

On Sunday at 5pm one motorist was making his way down the street when his car hit the uneven surface.

His tyre burst instantly and the impact also chipped the wheel hub.

The driver, 37, who lives in Elderslie in Renfrewshire, was travelling with his four-year-old son in the car.

He said: "It was about 5pm and dark. When I turned the corner into Waterloo Street there was a very loud bang and the tyre went completely flat. My son got a fright.

"The whole thing was shocking. I had no option but to get out and change the tyre there and then so he was alone in the car for about an hour."

The angry motorist, who has been left with a bill for a new tyre for his Fiat 500, then tried to report the pothole online via the Glasgow City Council website but was unable to because the server was down.

The hole was yesterday partly patched up.

Yesterday morning the "report it" function on the Glasgow City Council website, which allows the public to flag up dangerous potholes, was still out of action. Service was restored in the afternoon.

The state of the city's roads has long been a cause of complaint for local drivers, some of whom have been forced to fork out hundreds of pounds for costly repairs.

The Evening Times recently revealed the worst roads in the city for potholes as part of our Pothole Watch campaign.

They included Crow Road, Renfrew Road, Dumbarton Road at Clydebank and Great Western Road.

We also told you about fears fragile exhibits and artefacts transported to and from the Glasgow Museums Resource Centre, in Nitshill, could be damaged after being driven over a crater-riddled road.

A spokesman for Glasgow City Council said: "Poor weather over the last couple of winters has presented Glasgow, and other authorities across the UK, with an enormous challenge.

"As the UK's second largest council authority, our roads network supports millions of miles of travel every day and experiences around 20,000 excavations by utilities and other contractors every year.

"Maintaining Glasgow's roads is a huge undertaking and, although they stand up well to the enormous demands placed on them on a daily basis, there is little we can do to avoid the damage extreme weather can cause.

"The prolonged and heavy rainfall this winter, and extreme low temperatures of recent years, has exacerbated a number of defects.

"Over the last three years, we have rapidly increased spending on our roads to ensure we wipe out thousands of potholes."